Another One o' Them Long Run Things

Elite runner Ryan Shay died yesterday a few miles into the U.S. Men's Marathon Olympic Trials. I saw the headline yesterday on the Runner's World website, a bit before it hit the major news outlets, and since I couldn't find confirming cues right away, it was hard to believe. He was 28. It's a very sobering reminder that even the best runners aren't immune to random acts of fate. You just never know. I thought a lot about that during my 10-miler this morning. It was a tough run, and I was really struggling with sore shins, tight calves, and general fatigue. What if I have some unknown health issue? What if every time I run, I'm using up some limited number of beats that my heart has to give? I just never know. But like many others, I suppose that I'd rather go out running or triathloning than sitting on my couch. So run I will.

I'm tracking both Jen and Cassie at the New York Marathon today. Fun times. Jen's through the halfway mark in a very respectable 2:26, while Cassie's updates appear to be delayed. I refuse to believe that her IT band is acting up, so I'm blaming the website at the moment. I also checked the results for two locals I know that did Ironman Florida yesterday. Both finished. Awesome. I want to do an Ironman -- I just don't want to do the training! Thus, no Ironman in my immediate future. Gotta want it.

As I alluded to earlier, my 10-miler was a real struggle this morning. My shins and calfs were tight and remained tight through at least the first 3 miles. The temperature was cool, but the humidity was killer. I wasn't really feeling it. My route was an out-and-back from Clear Lake High School down Bay Area to Red Bluff to Kirby, turning around at the 5-mile mark -- yes, almost exactly the first half (and back) of the USA 10-Miler. I would've started at UHCL and done the official course, but there was a 5K going on at UHCL this morning and I wanted to avoid the crowd.

Off I went. After 2 miles, I told myself that I could turn around at 3 miles for a total of 6. At 3 miles, I decided to keep going and told myself I could turn around at 4 miles for a total of 8. At 4 miles, I told myself that I was being a wuss, and that I should suck it up and go all the way to the 5-mile turnaround and worst case, I could walk the final few miles if necessary. On my way back at the 7-mile mark, my stomach situation rapidly became dire, so I stopped for a bathroom break. Let's just say it was a very good thing that there's now a gas station at the corner of Bay Area and Red Bluff!! I stopped my watch during my potty break.

All that said, I finished in just under 1:59, which is still faster than the craptastic USA 10-Miler of three weeks ago, and I'm just plain proud that I was able to finish the whole distance at all because I was not mentally in this run at all. Splits were all over the place, thanks to a rather uneven run/walk schedule -- more or less a 5/1, thanks to just plain being tired, but sometimes I ran 6 or 7 minutes, and sometimes I ran the whole mile:

11:41, 12:05, 11:33, 11:54, 11:28, 12:12, 12:23, 10:59 (post-bathroom break energy surge), 12:09, 12:18

I was hoping that things would feel more comfortable, but oh well. Thus far this fall, I seem destined to follow up a good long run with a bad one. That means my next one should go well. Right??